At these events, a good number of people whip out laptops, netbooks, iWhatevers, open up Twitter, and set to livestreaming the discussion. It’s really cool, and really interesting to look at later (but not too much later, because Twitter’s search doesn’t archive more than 7 days). Each person is tweeting the items that stand out most to her/him, and usually there are enough people in attendance that the whole event ends up on Twitter.

This is very cool for the people who are at the event, who have a backchannel and a place to promote the event. But it can get really annoying for people who follow those people on Twitter.

I first found TypeWith.me in June, but didn’t really have any applications for it at the time. Summer is a slow meetup season. At the Data-Based News meetup, Daniel Bacchuber and Greg Linch started taking copious notes using TypeWith.me, tweeting out the link for others to see.

TypeWith.me is basically a stripped down Google Docs that actually works in real-time. There is a sidebar where people can chat. Anyone can edit the document without any kind of account. Access to the link = access to edit. It even keeps revision histories. And it is, like Twitter, a great way to have a backchannel and take notes on what’s important to you, without flooding your followers.

I’m not suggesting that we stop using Twitter entirely during these events. After all, someone has to tweet out that link. :)

About

I'm looking for my next opportunity to solve user interface problems and make an impact. Currently, I'm teaching code to high school students with CodeNation (formerly ScriptEd) and I'm a contributor on a mobile canvassing app called Reach. Some of my projects are on GitHub. I blog about what I'm learning and random tidbits that catch my fancy. Contact me at mtaylor@megantaylor.org